#ryn's asks

It's a day with the possibility of answering asks! When you get an idea for a story out of nowhere, is it more likely to be "Hey that sounds familiar to an idea I've had before" or "okay that's different"?

It is a day for answering asks! Hey lovely <3

My ideas tend to remain in the vein of fantasy and with a female main character (which sometimes changes) because that's pretty much what I read growing up in my favorite genre, so there is that overlap for my works. However, they do tend to vary widely and are inspired by a lot of different things so they def vary!

Heya! Good to see you in my inbox. Hope you're doing well!

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?

I used to just be excited about the plot, but I feel like I'm trying to actually say something with my writing more these days. There isn't anything wrong with a story just for fun, but at least with The Arcana Quest I'm going to be speaking to a few different themes.

7. What character(s) captured your heart?

Hortensia, my main character from Among the Hydrangeas, has really become dear to me this year. I've learned a lot more about how the series will be going this year, and I think it will be incredibly exciting to actually put pen to paper (metaphorically, as I type out my stories on my phone) and dig into the tale.

Another character who has had some growth this year is Blys from Court Chess. An Edwardian butch lesbian playing court politics while dealing with emotional dysregulation and saying things she doesn't mean when overwhelmed? I know we all hate SJM, but Blys is what I had hoped for Nesta's book Silver Flames. I felt Nesta did not have the bite or the distress of snapping with cruelty and then regretting it like I had expected. Is tumblr going to hate her because we can't accept complicated women with rage? Yes. But I still adore her.

9. What fic meant the most to you to write?

The Arcana Quest is my best idea, in my opinion, and is very personal to me. I've been working on it in one form or another since 2013 and it's my baby.

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?

That The Arcana Quest is currently more complicated to write than my writing skills can tackle. However, that's not a bad thing! Working towards growth is always worthwhile.

4. What piece of media inspired you the most?

I don't know if you'd count this as media, but listening and reading The Odyssey has been really inspiring for The Arcana Quest.

24. What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

Antigone's gender has changed slowly but surely from cis woman starting in 2020, she/her pronoun using nonbinary person in 2021, she/they nonbinary person in 2022, and now Antigone has settled into being he/she/they genderfluid. I'm still debating if I don't mention Antigone's AGAB at all in the text or make it clear Antigone is AFAB and deal with the transphobia in that way. It hasn't changed much of the story, interestingly enough.

30. What’s something that you want to write in 2024?

I'm going to be seriously working on Among the Hydrangeas (my regency vampire x vampire hunter story)!

So there is the serious answer to this question, and then there is a petty one.

My real one would be thanking my friends Mary and Brogen for putting up with my writing nonsense.

Honestly, my most satisfying moment was outlining a whole novel for the first time. It was a big deal to me and gave me a lot of hope!